PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands; Friday, July 18th 2014 – The most recently released world ranking by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) showed a dramatic rise in positioning by the Turks and Caicos Islands. Due to a lack of international games, the Men’s National Team that previously ranked at the bottom of the FIFA rung at 207, are now at 181. This jump of over 26 places is a significant step towards the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association’s (TCIFA) goal in the development of football in the country.
Chris Bryant, President of the TCIFA said: “After 16 years of continuing football development since being accepted into FIFA in 1998, we have reached an important milestone with our National Men’s Team. The team comprises of players who have come almost exclusively through our youth development programmes. It is a strong foundation with the prospect of more players coming through the system every year.”
Bryant went on to add that: “The TCIFA has reached a stage where we can now compete on equal terms with countries that have much larger populations than that of the Turks and Caicos islands. We can confidently expect greater things to come from this team and this will work positively on how the Turks and Caicos Islands are viewed throughout world football.”
Over the years the TCIFA made a committed effort to improve the country’s FIFA ranking. This involved an increased emphasis on the youth programs which included instituting a Guest Coaches Programme and ensuring that the Youth Teams had the opportunity to compete often in local youth leagues as well as facing international clubs invited to the islands. What is more, the TCIFA sought to improve the level of coaching by organizing recognized licensing courses with the assistance of US Soccer, as well as having coaches as candidates in CONCACAF’s inaugural “D” license-coaching course. This, in addition to an ongoing program of obtaining scholarships for the Youth Players to attend universities in the United States.
In January of this year, the TCIFA hired Craig Harrington as its Technical Director, as it felt that it was now time to test the Men’s Senior Team in international competition. As such, both the Men’s and Women’s Senior teams participated in Preliminary Qualification Rounds forThe 2014 Caribbean Cup. Both teams had relative success. The Men’s Senior team moreso when they defeated the British Virgin Islands in Aruba this past June.
For more information on the TCIFA, kindly contact Sonia Bien-Aime, Secretary General on 941-5532 or email .
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ABOUT Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association - The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) is a non-for-profit organization in the business of football development throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands. The TCIFA has been in operation since 1996, and a member of FIFA, since 1998.
